1. Technical Field
The present invention is directed to a vehicle seat, typically a rear seat of a vehicle, having a limited recline adjustment range as well as the ability to fold the seatback to allow for a flat cargo area or to increase the cargo area of a vehicle.
2. Discussion
While a variety of adjustments have been long available for the front seats of a vehicle, such as recline or the ability to angle the seatback to increase occupant comfort, rear seats of vehicles traditionally have been fixed in place and prevented from moving. As vehicles decreased in size, users needed vehicles to be easily configurable to transport items that did not fit in the normal cargo space. To respond to this need, the seatback of some vehicle rear seats were configured to fold forward to allow a user to transport objects that would not fit within the trunk or cargo area of the vehicle. While especially applicable to smaller vehicles, this trend continued to larger vehicles, such as SUVs and minivans for all seats rearward of the front vehicle seats. To allow for even more load configurations, some vehicle rear seats were configured to allow the seatback to fold rearward, and many seats allowed multiple fold options such that the seats could be quickly stowed to create a flat cargo space.
Even though the seats and in particular the seatback of the rear seat could fold in a variety of ways, when the seat is in an upright position and capable of receiving a passenger, it is still set at a standard position. The standard position, based upon the design of the vehicle and configuration of the seats was typically set at what the manufacturer believed was the most comfortable angle for an average user. The problem with setting the angle of the seatback to the average user is that the angle considered comfortable by users varies significantly, especially with both children and adults using the rear seat of a vehicle. Even passengers of similar sizes may differ about what is the most comfortable seating angle. Therefore, there is a desire to have a rear vehicle seat that folds to allow increased cargo space to transport objects that would not normally fit within the cargo area of the vehicle, as well as provides the ability to adjust the angle of the seatback when the seat is capable of receiving a passenger.